Sustainability Efforts Pay Dividends for Hannaford Supermarkets

Sustainability practices at Hannaford Supermarkets annually saves the company $15 million, diverts 125 million pounds of waste from Northeast landfills and keeps more than 430 million pounds of greenhouse gases from being emitted, according to a study by Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.

The nonprofit reviewed sustainability practices at Hannaford stores in 2014, examining all 184 supermarkets in the US then owned by the company. The Massachusetts-based environmental organization granted certification through its Grocery Stewardship Certification program to 179 stores. The remaining five stores achieved provisional certification.

In its certification research, Manomet asked questions of each store about the kind of equipment used, daily workplace practices and the handling of waste. Among the findings:

Stores employ electric and natural-gas conservation practices that save the company more than $2 million a year.

Water conservation efforts save at least 43.4 million gallons of water annually.

In 2013 the Hannaford grocery store in Turner, Maine began using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant rather than hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) — the first such supermarket in the US, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency. This reduced its carbon footprint by 3.4 million pounds of CO2e annually.